The Cost of Showing Up

There's a difference between being busy and being intentional about what keeps you busy.

Apparently, a few months ago, I decided that spending most of October living out of a suitcase was a brilliant idea.

Between September 27 and October 29, my travels took me to Dallas for PPAI Board training and meetings, San Antonio for the Kaeser & Blair Sales Leader Summit, Punta Cana for an epic Promocations event, and, finally, Fort Worth for the PPAI Leadership Development Conference.

Four trips in five weeks, which meant more airports, connections, hotel rooms, and questionable food decisions than any reasonably sane person should voluntarily endure. Even so, I willingly signed up for every single trip and will surely do it again.

Yes, I realize there's a certain irony in that, considering I built brandivate to have greater control over my professional life. As a solopreneur, one of the things I value most is the ability to decide how, where, and when I work. Yet, looking at my calendar, you'd think I'd somehow lost control of all three.

Meanwhile, the business of brandivating doesn't stop simply because I'm somewhere between Nashville and another airport. Clients still need promised deliverables, deadlines don't magically disappear, and emails have an irritating habit of multiplying while I'm away. Unlike larger organizations, there's no team back at headquarters keeping things moving while I'm gone.

That means early mornings, late nights, working from hotel rooms, and occasionally wondering what the hell I was thinking when I agreed to all of this.

This all begs the question, "So, why do it?"

The easy answer is networking, professional development, and business opportunities. Those things certainly matter, but they don't fully explain why I'd willingly complicate my life to this degree.

The deeper answer is that I've come to believe some of the most valuable business experiences happen when we intentionally step away from the business itself. Getting out of our usual environment creates opportunities we might otherwise miss:

• The unexpected conversation that challenges how you think.

• The shared experience that strengthens a relationship.

• The opportunity to contribute to an industry that's given you so much.

• The new idea that emerges from a discussion you never would have had sitting alone in your office.

None of the above outcomes are guaranteed, of course. Not every conference changes your life, not every meeting results in landing that year-defining new client, not every connection will help shape your career, and, honestly, not every trip justifies the disruption it creates. That being said, it doesn't mean the potential value isn't worth pursuing on occasion.

We spend so much time protecting our calendars, eliminating distractions, focusing on screens, and learning to say no (I still struggle with this one) that it's easy to forget something equally important: knowing what deserves an enthusiastic yes. There's a difference between being busy and being intentional. One simply fills your calendar, while the other gives you a reason to fill it.

As October faded into November, I was exhausted, behind on a few things, and more than ready to spend some quality time in my own office. But I also returned with stronger relationships, fresh perspectives, new ideas, and experiences I couldn't have collected from behind my desk…and on the Back Forty.

The fact is, I didn't build a business to avoid being busy as much as I built one so I could be intentional about what keeps me busy.

Sometimes that means getting off the merry-go-round, and sometimes it means buying a ticket and enjoying the ride.